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 Replies: 13 / Views: 1,496 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4778 Posts |
There seems to be something, like a blob of metal or die crack coming from the uppermost radiate tip and touching the N and V (and going a little past the left tip of the V) in TRAIANVS. Anyone know what it is?  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2044 Posts |
Might be a small Die Cud. Very nice coin though. I don't have a Trajan Decius yet. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4253 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1549 Posts |
Looks like a small die break or flaw. There is another horizontal at the second ray. These assist in die studies but don't usually affect collectability to most people one way or the other.
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Moderator
 United States
23731 Posts |
Looks like a die beak to me also.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1316 Posts |
It looks like the tongs cut the edge as it was pulling the coin out of the die, the metal was still very hot or maybe they made a test nick to see if was Silver, it really doesn't look like a die crack.....  |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
VK: Are you referring to the circular blob of metal at the tip of the 'v' of what appears to be a flan crack?
Seems that you may be worried about the coin being a lost wax investment cast. If this is the case, the raised circular blob would have been a bubble in the casting face of the mold.
The "V" in the legend seems to be OK to me.
Is it possible to turn the coin edge on and get a picture inside the crack?
If the coin is die struck, the inside faces of the flan crack should exhibit signs of metal distress, should appear to be quite rough.
If it is a lost wax investment cast, there would no signs of metal distress, and the inside faces of the flan crack should appear much smoother.
Lost wax investment casting can be quite faithful to the original, but the molten metal is usually just too viscous to really copy the inside faces of a fine crack; the molten metal is just not able to fully penetrate into all the microscopic parts of the crack.
As an aside, closely examine some of your other coins that have a flan crack, to educate yourself exactly what to look for, in terms of metal surface texture.
Edited by sel_69l
06/12/2012 8:10 pm
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
4778 Posts |
Just as I suspected. Thanks for all the help. Eng5858, no I am referring to whats under and a little towards the left of the cut on the edge (extending from the uppermost tip of the radiate crown through the V and just touching the broken-off part of the edge. Sel_69l, I've never heard of a lost wax investment cast before you mentioned it. Can you tell me more about it? I can't get a picture of the edge at the moment, but I do have a photo of the reverse that shows the crack/chipped edge a little more:  (Near the top at 11 o clock) |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4253 Posts |
Ah yes, the hitchhiking pair. I remember this coin. I don't see any problems with this coin. But that's just an opinion and we all have em, right?
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
With a coin such as this, it is very difficult to pass judgement just by looking at a screen picture. You must have the coin in hand for close examination. That is the main reason I wish to give as much information as I can for you to make your own judgement.
Lost wax investment casting can produce high quality and quite dangerous copies, if a great deal of care is taken.
It is a reasonably involved process. A more exact explanation than I can give is best done by doing a Google search. The proceedure is used quite extensively in many industries, and is developed to a high degree.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1316 Posts |
ValiantKnight, your coin is awesome, from the picture of the rev it looks like a small die crack, I won't worry about it at all, I see lots of coins with cracks..yours you can hardly see..  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4778 Posts |
Thanks for the compliments guys. Got a little worried about my coin being a lost wax investment cast coin so I spent some time comparing it with genuine Decius Pannoniae coins and the fakes in FORVM's database and I am certain that mine is real.
Oh and I don't mind about the die cracks as long as they weren't distracting, which they aren't in my coin's case. The closest thing to a 'negative' about my coin is the reverse being struck with a worn reverse die (at least, that's what I think happened) but I still think the coin is no doubt a beautiful one and an excellent part of my collection.
Edited by VisigothKing
06/12/2012 11:27 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
Basically I am also OK with it. Just worth some investigstion. It is that small dome shaped blob above the "V" that got be interested.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4778 Posts |
Thanks sel. Now that I look at it more closely, to me it resembles the beads in that beaded circle rim going around the obverse.
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Replies: 13 / Views: 1,496 |
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Posted 06/12/2012 1:21 pm
